


What Should Be

by typoqueen



Category: Penny Dreadful (TV)
Genre: F/M, Storm - Freeform, cottage, cut wife's house, in the rain, otp, rain kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2015-06-08
Packaged: 2018-04-03 11:57:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4100086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/typoqueen/pseuds/typoqueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After fleeing to the Cut-Wife's cottage, Ethan teaches Vanessa to shoot and they finally kiss. Despite Vanessa fears possession if she ever consummates her love for Ethan, but they're willing to take a risk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Should Be

**Author's Note:**

> This was written after 2x06 aired, in hope that 2x07 goes something like this. We can dream, right?

Ethan’s hand closed around Vanessa’s, holding it tight around the gun, guiding her finger to the trigger. He knew she could do it, that she probably already knew how to use the gun; it was merely a matter of showing her that she could. Her skin was cool to the touch, and Ethan stepped a little closer, until her back was against his chest and his mouth close to her ear. There was a subtlety to the way he guided her hand, quietly whispering instructions, as if he weren’t teaching her at all, but simply holding her. 

When Vanessa had first pulled the trigger, she missed the bottles lined up on the crate and hit the tree behind it. The second time, with Ethan’s hand guiding her, she felt the weight of the gun properly, how she could line it up correctly with her eye, how the nervous shaking of her hands was all but gone when he was so very close to her. This time she hit the bottle on the end of the row, shattering it into a thousand shards. The sound was incredible, but Vanessa was hardly focusing on that now. Eager to hit the next bottle, and the next, she peeled Ethan’s hand away from hers and steadied her arm by herself. In quick succession, the next two bottles exploded into splinters when a bullet came crashing through them.

“There. That was alright, was it not?”

In any other scenario, Miss Ives would have had a grin on her face. But not here. Here she was learning how to defend her life, not merely practising for a game. Life was not a game. It wasn’t even a prize; it was a right, and her right was being violated by those things which were hunting her. So instead of smiling up at him (although she tried), her face was set into a kind of worried frown.

“A great start, I assure you. You’ve pick it up pretty fast,” Ethan replied, doing the smiling for both of them. Only seeking to comfort her, he made sure to not seem as worried as Vanessa did. Knowing she was the strongest, bravest woman he had ever met did not detract from the fact that he knew she was fearful now. Whatever was about to happen to her was something seriously dangerous, and the exhaustion of that was quite clearly visible in her eyes.

Taking the gun from her hand, Ethan slid it into his holster and took Vanessa’s hand in his. With just his eyes, he told her not to worry. He told her he would always be there for her. He told her a great many things, but the most important one was survival. They would survive, not because they had to, but because they could.

“I’m scared, Ethan.”

“I know. But we will be alright. You know that, don’t you?”

“Lets have some tea, shall we?”

Ethan chuckled and nodded, beginning to walk back to the Cut-Wife’s cottage with Vanessa by his side. The sky was turning dark and heavy with the promise of rain, so he was all too glad to get indoors and make some tea.  
“I’ll make it, Miss Ives. You sit down and rest.”

Usually Vanessa would have argued that she was perfectly capable of making the tea herself, and that she didn’t need Mr Chandler to run around after her like some sort of servant. But she was exhausted, and was actually rather glad that he’d offered. She sank into the seat, her bones feeling as if they’d just sighed away the day’s stress, muscles finally relaxing despite her instincts telling her to not relax even a little bit. It was a relief that she felt safe enough with Ethan around. She watched in calm silence as Ethan boiled water and filled the strainer with loose leaf tea, a hand absent mindedly coiling her hair around a finger. With her eyes closing for what felt like only a moment, Vanessa realised she’d fallen asleep when Ethan woke her with a gentle nudge, laughing.

“Tea’s ready,” Mr Chandler said, sitting next to Vanessa with two steaming cups in his hands. He handed one to her, grinning at the sleepy expression on her face and then settled back into the seat to take a sip of his own drink.

“What would I do without you, Mr Chandler?”

“Make your own tea, perhaps. And then fall asleep, only to wake up and find it too cold to drink. That is no way to live, Miss Ives.”

The woman laughed, curling her hands around the cup and holding it close to her chest. She almost told him that she could not ever live without him, but thought it too forward. This house held so many disturbing and upsetting memories for her, but in that moment all she could think about was how much safer she felt now that she was here with Ethan. The book across the room was calling to her, telling her to give in to the knowledge within it. Although Vanessa knew that she eventually must open that cursed tome, she wanted just one night before she was changed forever and always, before she became a monster.

A sad smile appeared on Ethan’s face, but his heart was singing. There was finally some colour in Vanessa’s cheeks. So beautiful she was in that moment, that Ethan couldn’t stop himself from doing what he had been dreaming of doing for a long time. He set down his tea and leaned across to hold her face in hands, kissing Vanessa softly on the mouth. Heart beating a million miles a minute, Ethan paused as he pulled back, eyes fixed on hers, searching for a signal, anything, to know what she was feeling. For she must have felt this as well; this overwhelming need for them to be closer, to follow their desires no matter where it took them, for it could only be good and pure and just.

Vanessa all but dropped her tea, her hands were trembling so. She let out a breath, and shook her head slightly. It was so blindingly obvious that Miss Ives wanted him as well; she could feel it pulsing from them both in waves - that need, that love. But the last time she had given in to a feeling similar to this it had opened a gateway for the devil. Darkness had crept through her bloodstream, her eyes had seen the back of her skull, pleasure had turned to danger. And she hadn’t been able to tell anyone of it; horrific as it was.

Without warning, she pushed Ethan away, throwing her half-full cup into the kitchen sink as she rushed out of the little cottage and into the storm outside. Air was what she needed, and she gulped it in with giant breaths, filling her lungs with cold. The rain poured down upon her like a shower of guilt, soaking her hair and clothes until there was nothing dry about her at all. Vanessa’s face was scrunched into a half-scowl, a few tears falling from her eyes to mix with the raindrops. She was almost shaking with anger, with disgust in herself that even love was not a sacred thing to her. Even love evaded her because of the demons that haunted her very soul, taunting her and cutting her heart to ribbons.

“Vanessa!” Ethan called out from the doorway of the house. Seeing her off in the distance, he didn’t hesitate to follow her out, running in long strides to catch up with her. “Stop. I’m sorry. Vanessa, please come inside. It’s not safe out here. You don’t know who could be coming --” He spoke hurriedly, with genuine concern, an arm reaching out to take her by the waist and the other to gently hold her around the shoulders. “Vanessa, please.”

Miss Ives couldn’t bear it any longer. That feeling welling up in the pit of her stomach urged her to turn around in his arms, flinging her own around his neck. The rain continued to pour down on them from the heavens, lightning and thunder shaking the sky as Vanessa pulled herself up. Ethan held her tightly, lifting her clear off the ground, and they kissed. It was sweet and passionate, how Vanessa had hoped it would be. Nothing else existed in that moment, nothing mattered but him. 

Breathless, they pulled away from the kiss and Ethan lifted her up even more to carry her inside, her face pressed into his neck. “You really are one of a kind,” he whispered, pushing the door open with his shoulder. “But now you’re totally drenched.”

“As are you,” Vanessa said softly when her feet were on the floor again. “I’m sorry, Mr Chandler - I’m sorry for everything. I just couldn’t do any of this without you. None of it. Not any more.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit. You are the most incredible woman I know. Nobody else could do the things you do, whether I am here or not.” Ethan’s voice was soft, caring, and his hand equally so as they touched her waist, moving up her sides, and around her back. Drawing her in close, he kissed her again, and then waited for her response.

With her lips still pressed firmly against his, gently moving in time to their heartbeats, Vanessa’s fingers moved to unbutton Ethan’s shirt, pushing the article away from his body. It hit the floor with a wet thud. She kissed his chest, working her way up to his neck and then his mouth again, while Ethan’s own hands unfastened her many layers. It didn’t take long before they had shed their wet clothes, bodies pressed together for warmth as they moved to the rug. He held her tightly, a comfort she didn’t realise she needed, with one of his hands around her wrist as he kissed every inch of her skin that he could reach. 

Arching her back, Vanessa pushed her body against Ethan’s, parting her legs to wrap them around him. One of his hands was on her thigh, her ass, moving against her skin and sending sparks through her core as he kissed her neck hard. The feeling of his beard against her collar bones was something new, exciting almost, grounding her in the reality of what they were doing. Nothing would be the same again.

Ethan let out a deep breath as he found her heat, pushing into her slowly, carefully, savouring each moment. Vanessa moaned into his mouth, stealing kiss after kiss as their bodies entangled in the most delicious moment that they’d both been waiting for. Her nails dug into his back, urging him to fuck her faster, harder, and her hips bucked upwards to meet his thrusts. Lips trailed from his mouth to his jawline now, then to his neck where she bit him gently, hard enough to hurt but soft enough to leave no trace. 

For a moment, it was all a blur, hard and fast and nearly over, but Ethan stopped and pulled Vanessa upwards. His hands guided her to turn around so she was on all fours, and before long he was inside her again, pushing deeper, slower now. Caressing her stomach, he leaned over and kissed her neck, trailing small kisses across her back to elicit soft moans from Vanessa’s mouth. She tilted her hips for him, pushing backwards to feel him deeper, and Ethan moved his hands to her ass.

The slowness had to end, though, and before long he was fucking her hard enough to hear her gasping his name, her dark hair spilled about all over the place, still wet from the storm. Ethan felt the exact moment when Miss Ives tipped over the edge, each and every one of her muscles tightening up around him, her moans deeper and clearer. He thrusted hard, one, two, three times, then stilled, deep inside as he let himself come after she had finished. His body tired, Ethan leaned over her again, one arm around her waist to hold her tight. 

Vanessa’s breathing gradually slowed, and as she felt Ethan leave her, she rolled onto her back on the rug to look up at him. He was beautiful, in every sense of the word. Smiling up at him, she reached out to pull him down to lie with her. It had been every bit as good as she had wanted it to be, believed it should be, and she sighed as she nuzzled into his neck. The best thing about it was that not once from the moment she kissed Ethan Chandler, to the moment they had finished making love right there on the floor, had she felt any spark of the devil anywhere inside her; she had been protected by him as always.


End file.
